December 13, 2008

THE GUNS OF INDIA (via Bryan Francoeur)

Baseball scouts found Hank Aaron hitting cross-handed in Mobile, Alabama. They found Mickey Mantle outrunning the wind in northeast Oklahoma. They even found a former drug addict and felon turned outfielder, Ron LeFlore, in a Michigan state prison.

The latest discoveries are from the countryside. The Indian countryside.

In another successful anti-piracy operation, Navy warship on Saturday repulsed an attack on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden and nabbed 23 Somali and Yemeni sea brigands, in a show of resolve to weed out the menace that affected maritime trade in the region.

The pirates on two speed boats had surrounded the merchant vessel flying the Ethiopian flag around noon, when INS Mysore warship intervened and warded off the attack, Navy spokesperson said.

The pirates had fired at the merchant vessel with their small arms, when it sent out a rescue call and the Indian warship, which was sailing nearby moved its Marine Commandos on a helicopter to help the distressed cargo vessel, he said.